One of my personal goals over the past few years has been to minimize the stuff that I own. This year, I have specifically worked on drastically reducing the size of my wardrobe and the amount of things I choose to take along while traveling.
It's been an interesting journey as I've learned to pack lighter and get by with less. This has been a BIG change for me! I can remember being "that" girl who'd show up to the church parking lot with a huge suitcase and toiletry case (anyone remember Caboodles?!) just for a weekend youth retreat.
Now, I am learning to pack less and loving how light it feels to carry just the necessities. Here's what I took with me for two weeks away this summer:
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In many ways, I want to travel light in ALL of life and cherish what is most needed and worthwhile.
I want to cherish God's Word, my family, my church, and do meaningful work.
Here on Earth, we are passing through; this is not our true home.
Peter speaks to this in his first epistle, right out of the gate in the first verse of chapter one. His greeting begins:
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: may grace and peace be multiplied to you." --1 Peter 1:1-2 (emphasis mine)
Elect exiles.
I've been meditating upon this concept for the past few weeks.
What does it mean to be "elect" and an "exile"; a chosen, selected, favored person (by God's grace), who is not in a place they call home?
Knowing that we as believers of Christ are "elect exiles," should we be surprised when the things of this world fail to satisfy us? Should we be alarmed when we feel let down by others or disappointed by the way circumstances work out?
I find myself agreeing with author C.S. Lewis, who said:
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
How about you, dear friend? Do you feels the pangs that come with being an "elect exile" here on Earth as a follower of Christ?
Peter goes on in the first chapter to encourage believers to love each other well, because the life of an exile is hard, and it will only be harder if we turn on ourselves within the church.
"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; --1 Peter 1:22-23 (emphasis mine)
May we encourage one another to travel light, become unattached to the perishing things of this world, and cherish those imperishable things of God this week!
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